It is known to provide spools or reels upon which filaments, including monofilaments such as wire, rope, or cable may be wound for subsequent shipment, storage, and use. Such reels typically include a central barrel connected to opposing end flanges. It is further known to provide a plurality of openings in the end flanges. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,741 (Hussar et al.) discloses a reel having flanges with a plurality of openings provided to reduce the amount of material used to fabricate the end flanges and to facilitate visual determination of the reel contents (the openings forming a plurality of view ports).
It is still further known to provide one or more dog holes adapted to receive a winding dog of a winding machine used to rotate the spool. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,710 (Russell et al.) discloses a cable reel having a such a dog hole.
A need exists for a reel which provides a novel arrangement of openings in the reel flange to provide visual access to the reel contents while also providing the flange with desirable structural stiffness characteristics. A further need exists for a reel having a novel dog hole design which receives a winding dog while maintaining a high level of structural rigidity. A reel combining these features would be particularly desirable.